BC Election Results: Why The Liberals Won

Advance polling wasn't a complete failure in B.C.'s provincial election, as internal surveys actually appear to have been an important strategic advantage for the B.C. Liberal Party.

That's according to Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer, who wrote Wednesday that the B.C. Liberals polled every day, using old-fashioned telephone surveys to get a feel for what voters were saying in swing ridings.

The party's internal polling didn't rely very much on online surveys, as pollster Angus Reid did in a final pre-election poll, and took large samples that told the party they were closing the gap with the NDP in the campaign's final days.

The internal polling strategy made fools out of various New Democrats including strategist Brian Topp, who helped turn the NDP into Canada's Official Opposition but bombed the B.C. campaign by playing nice, The Province reported.

But B.C.'s election results could also have far-reaching consequences for the federal NDP, as Topp and strategists Brad Lavigne and Anne McGrath held key positions on the provincial campaign, The Toronto Star's Thomas Walkom wrote Wednesday.

The provincial campaign was effectively a test run for the new, moderate, incrementalist NDP, and a resounding defeat could cast a long shadow, Walkom wrote.